The cause of death for one of the first Africans to be killed in the service of World War I remains a mystery for over 100 years after his ship went missing.
Born in the year 1901, Lee Otis Battle was just a teenager when America began WWI in the spring of 1917.
The local paper, which was later the Andalusia Star,carried reports of the looming involvement of America.
In what seems to be a unique two-page issue of the newspaper that was published on the 7th of April 1917, just one day following the day that the president Woodrow Wilson signed a congressional resolution declaring war. The local headline read “Wilson Declares War Act; Naval Forces mobilized.”
“By announcement, the President … asked citizens everywhere to show their loyalty. He also assured Germans living in this country that they will not be abused in the event of a good conduct by their own.”
A piece of an editorial in the newspaper, editor and owner Oscar M. Dugger wrote that the call of the president to duty is not something to be taken lightly.
“The months and years ahead of us will be full of historical and events that test the souls of men. In Germany we are facing a formidable adversary that is both formidable and resourceful. They have soldiers who are who have been trained and prepared for combat in the most brutal and cruel form. She has taken into consideration the entire amount of our nation’s.resources in terms of soldiers, weapons and funds … The United States are fighting an adversary that requires our complete force to defeat .”
Prior to the official declaration of the war, a local newspaper was releasing specific plan to “raising an armies that could reach millions if needed.”
It’s not known what newspaper stories which enticed young Battle to sign up. Private radio stations weren’t yet widespread. At the time of declaration of war the President Wilson directed all radio stations to close or transferred to the military. But, Lee Otis Battle entered Naval service on the 3rd of August in 1917.
Battle was the son of Dr. as well as Mrs. H.E. Battle. The doctor. Battle, who moved his family to Andalusia around 1900, was an eminent physician in the area.
Lee Otis was assigned to duty on the USS Cyclops. It was Cyclops was 540 feet long and 65 feet wide and was designed to hold 122,500 tonnes of coal. In the year that United States declared war on Germany and its allies, support vessels such as this one were placed under the control under the Navy.
As per the U.S. Naval Institute, the Cyclops set sail to her hometown port of Norfolk, Va., to Rio de Janeiro with 9,960 tons of coal. The ship was scheduled returned with 11,000 tonnes of manganese ore. It is used in the production of steel.
The ship arrived at Rio de Janeiro 19 days after departing Norfolk and was in port for two weeks, unloading cargo and loading it. On February. 15 1918 Cyclops Cyclops left Rio to Bahia, Brazil, its sole scheduled stop before Baltimore, Maryland. The ship was able to leave Brazil on February 22nd and was to be in Maryland on the 13th of March.
Records indicate that records show that the Cyclops stopped off without a plan in Barbados on the 3rd of March. After that stop the ship was never ever seen again.
There has been plenty of speculation over what will happen to the Cyclops as well as the crew of 309 who were on board. After a decade of her disappearance, Conrad A. Nervig an ex-officer who had been transferred off to the boat in Rio and wrote an opinion piece for U.S. Naval Institute about the problematic ship and the crew. Nervig identified the commander Lieutenant. Commanding Officer George W. Worley, as an “indifferent navigator and a sloppy, excessively prudent navigator” who was “generally disdainful by his men and officers.”
Nervig believed his theory that Cyclops was broken in two and then sinking because manganese was not properly stored, possibly since the only person who had experience in the storage of manganese ore is the executive “who has been put under arrest and taken to his room because of an ‘insignificant disagreement’ in the presence of Captain.”
Nervig explained that the pressure in the ocean could tear the ship into two pieces, and the spaces would rapidly fill up with water as the ship turned vertical possibly too fast in order for the lifeboats able to deploy.
The theory of Nervig about his theory about the future of Cyclops was just one of a number. Some theories suggest that the ship went missing within the Bermuda Triangle; that the manganese explosion occurred and the ship was struck by an German U-boat. Although there is no way to disprove all of these theories, the postwar evidence suggests that there were no U-boats operating in the region during the time.
The news of the ship’s disappearance did not reach Andalusia, Alabama when Dr. Battle received a heart-breaking letter. On the 16th of April 1918, 8 months since Lee Otis Battle joined the Navy, The Andalusia Star printed the telegram that Dr. Battle on Sunday, April 14:
“The Navy Collier Cyclops on which your son Lee Otis Battle, seaman second class U.S.N was a part of the crew has been missing in and Atlantic Port since March thirteenth. Her last report was made at an island in the West Indian Islands March fourth and there has been no communication from her since then. Her disappearance is not logically or accounted for in any manner since no weather-related issues or actions of enemy raiders were observed within the vicinity of her route. The search for her remains carried out by radio and vessels. Any information that is definitive received will be promptly informed. Send all questions directly to “The Bureau of Navigation.”
The newspaper stated it was shocked by the announcement was an ” crushing blow both to Dr. as well as Mrs. Battle, the latter being suffering from devastation since the news broke.”
He was. Dugger wrote that the Telegram brought the terror of war to Andalusia.
“We consider Otis as a bright joyful and happy boy who is a favorite with his peers. We are hoping that word will be forthcoming that he and everyone else on board are secure. However, if the story we’re afraid is proven to be correct and proves the first victim of Andalusia’s war was our own joyful Lee Otis, we can rest assured because we are aware that he acted as the true American We also understand he faced death, should death have been awaited, as the hero he was.”
Lee Otis Battle also was survived by a brother named Sumpter Elton Battle, and an older younger sister named Evelyn (later Findley).
One month after the telegram arrived The paper announced that photos taken of Lee Otis Battle and Dick Brighton of Florala Two of the three departed Covington County war heroes, were to be shown in Royal Theatre. Royal Theatre.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, then assistant secretary of Navy was the official who declared the vessel lost in the ocean on June 1, 1918. Battle was one of the 12 sailors on board who resided in Alabama. Alabama home, which included Bascomb Newton Branson of Whistler; Earl LeBaron Carroll, Oak Grove; Thomas Jackson McKinley, Evergreen; George Mason McNeal, Birmingham; John Freeman Mitchell, Pratt City; William Thomas Wise, Glenmore; and Hamilton Thomas Beggs, Birmingham.
Doctor. Battle died rather suddenly of heart disease in 1923, aged 55. Lee Otis’s mother Mrs. Jessie Battle, remained active in the community for a number of years. In 1931 she was requested to be an Gold Star Mother to travel to the battlefields of France as guests of the French government.
The Battle-Malcomb VFW Post 3454 was named in honor of Lee Otis Battle and for Lieutenant. James Malcomb, who was killed during the Battle of Chateau Thierey, France. The post was established in 1936, and it had an establishment in Crescent Street.
SN Battle has an honorary tombstone within his grave in the Battle family plot in the historical Magnolia Cemetery, which is located behind the Covington County Courthouse, and it will be among the stories that will be shared on Oct. 7 (time to be determined) as ReAct Theatre and Arts presents “Tales of the Tomb,”” a walking tour through the cemetery, narrated by characters who lie in peace in there. Auditions begin at 6.30 p.m. on the 21st of August at Church Street Cultural Arts Centre. Church Street Cultural Arts Centre.
Michele Gerlach
Information sources: Andalusia Star archives; U.S. Naval Institute website; Alabama Veterans Memorial Foundation as well as Archives of the Three Notch Museum.
Michele Gerlach serves on the board for both Covington Veterans’ Foundation, and ReAct Theatre and Arts. Anyone with additional information about Battle or a photograph is asked to contact her at michele.gerlach@cityofandalusia.com.
The article Program to investigate the details of WWI the soldier’s murder was first published at The Andalusia Star-News.
